Indoor gardens or kitchen gardens are all the craze now, plus with the space constraints of flat-owners who have little balcony or open areas to themselves, the idea of container gardening holds much appeal as it allows them healthful, beautiful gardening pleasures – even in limited space! So, if veggies, fruit and salads are a hot favorite with you, a great option to get these cheap and fresh – minus the pesticides – is to grow your own. For example, tomatoes are easy to grow and take up very little space and effort to grow, which is very appealing to beginners at gardening in containers. They also have mass appeal for besides salads and sandwiches; tomatoes are a great ingredient for gravies, Italian cooking and so many other great-tasting international recipe ideas.

This versatility of tomatoes for use as culinary basics is what counts for it being such a great idea for growing in containers and with these now selling for over three dollars for a pound, the advantage of having your own kitchen garden is hard to ignore.

What is most important for a beginner to know about growing tomatoes in containers is that sunshine and big containers are the basics for growing these well – and of course the time at hand to tend to them from time to time. You also need a set of basic gardening tools and a hose-pipe to water the plants well instead of making frequent trips to the kitchen for a watering container besides 5 gallon pots to begin planting them in as tomato plants (only one per container) take up room as they grow, so you need to be prepared for that eventuality.

You may need to put the tomato seedlings (or you can purchase seeds) in soil and place wooden stakes for holding up the plants when they grow tall; tie a bit of string to the tomato plant stalk and bind this around the stakes. Use plenty of fertilizer and place a plastic drainage tray underneath the plant container as this is very important for the tomato plant to flourish.

You also need to learn about the various kinds of tomato plants there are in the market so you know the kind of tending the one you bought requires: for e.g. the bush varieties of tomatoes are simple to grow, but so are cherry tomatoes, which are cute in comparison and used for decorating foods.

Some people prefer the full-size tomato plants, which is also good enough to grow in small spaces or else you can try for the Early Girl, Celebrity and Christmas Grape variety; choose the one that suits your cooking/eating purpose. Salads do well with the cherry or grape variety of tomatoes, for example.

Another important factor that tomato growers need to keep in mind is to ensure watering and sunlight is available to the plant in adequate doses: 4-6 hours in the sun is needed everyday besides sufficient water.

2growtomatoes.info A visit back to the 24 Tomato plants planted in March. Good fruit set and more coming. Also the results of the Red Onion Project

squidoo.com Introduction to two exciting Tomatoe varieties, SunGold and Shady Lady. Found at Prickley Pear Garden Center, orland Ca

To control tomato hornworms, spray or dust the tomato plant thoroughly with bacillus thuringiensis, which is a bacteria that kills the worms, but doesn’t harm people. Keep hornworms from eating tomato plants with instructions from a horticulturist in this free video on growing tomatoes.

While deciding to grow tomatoes from seeds few issues need to be addressed as they directly influence further stages of tomato growing process. You will have to spend some time choosing the right soil and planting the right amount of seeds in order to get the best results. This way you will end up with the anticipated quantity of tomato plants ready to be transplanted outside in your garden bed in time for the growing season.

The first thing you will want to do is to start with clean potting soil. Do not use the soil from outside to start your plants. The best thing to do then is to go to the local nursery or garden center and pick up some good organic potting soil. You will then want to add the soil to nursery trays, or better yet, to flats that separate the pants from one another. This is beneficial when transplanting them when the time comes.

Let’s suppose that your target is to end up with 100 plants ready to be transplanted outside into your garden bed. Planting 20 % more seeds than the amount of the pants you want to end up with is a good idea. The reason for this is that not all seeds will germinate. Then there will almost always be a couple that will germinate, but the plants will not thrive. So generally speaking, if you want to put out 100 plants, then plant about 120 seeds. This way you will also provide yourself with few additional plants that can be used later on as a substitution for the ones that died out.

If you plant several different varieties of tomatoes, you’ll want to make sure that you label them. The plants will all look alike! Once all the plants have gotten their real leaves, it’s time to begin the first transplantation. They should be moved to individual growing containers such as a paper cup in order that they be able to better thrive and grow. If plants are bunched up, the growth will be stunted and you’ll end up with plants that are poorly producing. The best way to remove them from their starter pot is to use a kitchen fork. It works well with lifting the plants from the soil and causes less shock on the plants roots.

Now, depending upon the size of the paper cup or other container used in this first transplantation, you may or may not have to transplant them again before they go into the garden bed. It is then, in your best interest to plant them in paper cups large enough to hold them until they are about 6 inches or so tall, and ready to go into the outdoor garden bed. As soon as the last frost has passed and the plants achieved the required height you can put them outdoors.

The best way I have found to do this, and it causes very little shock to the roots, is to tear or cut away the paper cup from the entire thing, leaving the existing soil in place and putting them in the garden exactly that way.

Good luck in your growing! It won’t be long before you’ll be enjoying fresh juicy tomatoes, straight from the vine!